SHS Tigers tame Eagle Valley Devils in 4-1 win

Summit Daily/Mark Fox
Summit High's Evan Feldman, right, goes toe-to-toe with Eagle Valley's Alan Caraveo in first-half soccer action Tuesday evening at Tiger Stadium. Feldman scored the first goal of the game for Summit near the end of the first half.

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The Summit High boys' soccer team battered Eagle Valley on its home turf Tuesday, coming off the pitch with a 4-1 win.

Players from the other side of Vail Pass looked frustrated as the clock wound down in the second half, with the Tigers maintaining possession for the majority of the game.

The Devils' David Ortiz-Alan Caraveo duo gave the Summit High defense a run for its money, but seniors Captain Connor Hebert, senior Erick Rivas and sophomore keeper Noah Glasco kept the ball out of the net and at their forwards' feet.

Tiger action kick-started with roughly six-and-a-half minutes left in the first half, with Evan Feldman popping the ball into the Devils' goal. Headed into the locker room at halftime, the Tigers showed head coach Tommy Gogolen confidence.

"Tonight, we got tested. We had a mental lapse when we had an own goal," Gogolen said, adding that five minutes after a pass-back to Glasco had spun in the wrong direction and into the Tigers' goal for an Eagle Valley score, the Tigers had posted another one on the scoreboard and were back in the game.

"We wanted to knock the ball around and eventually get it in the back of the net," Gogolen said.

And that's what the team did in the second half.

The Tigers outshot the Devils, 23-7, and tallied three goals in the second half. Senior Alan Roque scored within 10 minutes of the start of the second, followed by senior Cesar Serrano's goal from a penalty kick for tripping in the box. The keeper fumbled the save, landing Summit High's third goal.

A minute later, a strong shot was stopped by the crossbar, and two minutes after that, another penalty kick from Alex Roque went unsuccessful.

Still, the Tigers pelted the goal, and maintained field presence throughout the game when Eagle Valley seemed scattered and unable to find each other on the field. The fourth goal came after an offensive drive from Eagle Valley, when junior Gabe Slottow dribbled upfield and gave the ball to Finnish exchange student, senior Simo Korpela to score with 17 seconds left in the game.

"They got scrappy at times," SHS junior Daniel McFadden said after the game. "But Tommy has taught us well. We held our composure."

The Tigers travel to Valor Christian on Thursday to face one of the tougher teams on the schedule. Gogolen maintains that Battle Mountain will be the stiffest competition, but Valor may also pose a threat to the Tigers' 5-1 record.